BBC Newsnight Sirens Sing-Scream 2014

Taking things out of context is one of the most effective creative techniques out there. Sure, there is an element of vandalism and appropriation at play, but creativity was never about keeping the contextual sanctity of the original. Context is for IP-holders. Things are much more interesting when you go beyond and try something different. Even if it is just taking one element out of the whole and presenting it on its own.

Case in point - this thing.


This is an excerpt from the conclusion of an episode of BBC Newsnight from December 2014. In it we're shown a scene from the play Sirens by Ontroerend Goed theater company. They were staging this play around that time at Soho Theater, so it was pretty sweet promotional plug. You can't ask for a better way of exposing your play to the wider audience.

The bit is prefaced by clumsy and somewhat awkward explanation from the presenter. He attempts to prepare the viewer for what they are about to experience. He describes the whole thing as "short taste" His tongue is firmly in cheek but he keeps a straight face. That was classy.

The excerpt itself is a bunch of women screaming, crying, hollering, screeching, shouting, shrieking, squalling, roaring, yelling, bawling, yawping, yawling. The presenter describes it as Sing-Screaming. It is the beginning of the play so it makes sense to make a bang from the get go. The whole thing is a kind of "irreverent feminist manifesto for the 21st century" that captures the spirit of the age. The problem is that this bit is taken out of context and put through an ironic filter.

In the context of this particular bit - the play and what it is about - doesn't really matter. There is not enough information to make a point and the excerpt itself is pretty self-contained and self-explanatory. What you experience instead - is the video that features two parts - the preface and the exceprt. Lack of cohesion between the two and the fact that both are torn out of their respective products makes them an odd pair.

Funny thing is - it works that way.